The Heart of a Hero
by westernmelody
Summary: Brothers Larabee. Buck and Inez help one of Inez's best friends and fellow employee escape an abusive relationship only to have the abuser seek revenge on Buck's family. Buck, JD, Chris, Vin, Inez and the other Larabee brothers are in the story.
1. Chapter 1

Heart of a Hero

"You stole Maria for yourself!" Accused a large man, waving a pistol in a drunken rage.

Buck and Inez, who had been getting ready to close Rosie's, were standing by the bar, carefully watching the drunken form of Mort Samuels. Samuels was unshaven, wearing worn boots and a shirt tucked half-in and half-out of his dusty jeans.

Buck and Inez, less than thrilled when Mort burst through the front door right before they could lock up, were familiar with the big man's temper and drinking habits as he was the husband of Maria, a waitress working at Rosie's and also one of Inez's best friends.

"You drove Maria away!" Inez spat, defending Buck. "You beat her over and over!"

"You put those ideas of me abusing her in her head!" Mort screamed, gun pointing towards the Mexican beauty. "She never would have left me if you and Bucky Boy there had not influenced her."

Buck gave Inez a warning glance and tried to reason with the angry man. "Mort, they have counselors to help you deal with your anger. You can . . ." The man was now shaking his head in defeat. "Won't work. She'll never come back." His eyes seemed to grow colder, his hand steadying with purpose. "You took her from me Bucky Boy. So I'll just show you how it feels - and take your girlfriend from you."

"No!" Buck screamed and Inez's brown eyes widened as the gun pointed at her, her hand going automatically towards her large turquoise cross necklace.

The front door of the restaurant opened, and to Buck's horror, kid brother JD, wearing an oversized t-shirt and jeans entered the restaurant, banging the door shut as usual and saying, "Hey, Buck, what's the holdup?"

Mort turned towards JD's voice; a gunshot rang out; Inez screamed and Buck, temporarily paralyzed with fear, yelled, "JD! JD! Kid!"

JD felt something whiz by his head and dove to the floor, banging his head on a bar stool as he stumbled. Wide hazel eyes took in first Buck's terrified face; Inez's pale face as her hand grasped the cross she wore; and the gunman's uncertainty as he pointed the gun at JD, then Buck, and then Inez as if uncertain what to do.

Buck recovered first, shoving Inez behind the bar and then running towards JD. "Stop!" Mort roared and Buck halted, unwilling to upset Mort further.

Mort wiped his sweaty brow and then addressed JD. "Kid, if you want to live to see your eighteenth birthday, get up and move over to that booth real slow-like. Move!"

JD was so used to being taken for younger than he was, he let the remark pass, scrambled to his feet and moved shakily to the booth Mort pointed to, blood dripping from his head.

Buck desperately wanted to go to his kid brother but was afraid to set off the unhinged Mort. The blood on JD's head unnerved him.

"You hurt, boy?" Buck said instead.

JD shook his head slightly, moaned. "Buck . . ."

"Stay out of this boy," Buck warned, trying to get JD to understand he wanted to keep their relationship under wraps for now.

"Chiquito," Inez began.

"Shut up!" Mort warned, now pacing back and forth. "Who is the boy?" he demanded.

"Kid who shows up once a week to clean up," Buck answered glibly, not entirely lying.

"Leave the chiquito out of this," Inez blazed. "He's just a nice boy."

But the plan backfired as Mort pointed his gun at JD. "If the boy doesn't mean much to either of you," he said, cocking the gun. "I'll just kill him."

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

"Maybe we shoudda let Bucklin hitchhike and see how long it takes him to get a ride from a woman," Vin teased as he maneuvered through traffic to Rosie's.

"I'd bet a little over a minute," Ezra responded. A shake of their heads showed the other's unwillingness to take that bet.

"Why did Buck not get a ride with Inez?" Josiah queried. "Gives our Buck another chance to get shot down in flames again as he tries to win fair maiden's heart."

"She had plans," Chris answered. "Besides, we can pick up some pizzas before heading back to the ranch. And a salad or two," he added in anticipation of Nathan and Ezra's groans.

"Garlic bread?" Josiah suggested, sitting up straight.

"Lots of it," Chris laughed, remembering how JD and Vin were fighting over the last piece while Josiah simply muscled in and ate it to the two's howls of protest.

"I can make garlic bread," Nathan started, but was quickly cut off by Vin's "Not like Tucker's Hideout," naming a favorite pizza place of the seven brothers.

"What an inglorious name for a pizza place," Ezra objected again for the tenth time since he had learned of an out-of-the way spot JD and Vin had come across in one of their motorcycle outings.

Sounding more patient than usual at Ezra's complaint, Chris responded, "Said to be a favorite of the Tucker gang, Ezra."

Vin pulled into the parking lot, and Vin's radar was instantly on alert. "What the . . ."

Jumping out of the car, the five brothers were shocked by the sound of gunfire and screams.

"Buck and Inez," Nathan breathed, moving for the door.

"Hold on, Nate," Josiah warned, taking his arm. "We should call the police."

"On it," Ezra responded, having already dialed.

The door burst open and Inez flew out, running blindly until she was stopped by Josiah, who soothed her as she instinctively lashed out with fists. "Inez, it's Josiah."

In Spanish so rapid-fire only Vin was able to understand most of it, Inez blurted out the story.

"JD wasn't even supposed to be here!" Chris fumed.

"Plans musta changed," Josiah tried to be calm.

Another yell, and Chris and Vin burst through the door together as the others held their breath.

Chris and Vin first saw Buck's face, filled with fury and a glimpse to the right showed Mort Samuels holding JD tightly and pointing the gun at his head.

"Touch our kid brother and you will regret it for the rest of your short life," Chris warned.

"Let JD go," Vin growled with a look on his face no man wanted to see and only a few had ever seen before.

"Kid brother," Mort said, savoring the words. "So this is your precious baby brother, Wilmington," he purred as Buck's face showed his dismay. "And I know Larabee. I don't know who this John Wayne wannabee is but he must be . . ."

"Name's Vin Tanner, not that you need to know that," Vin snapped. "You just need to walk away and let Buck and JD go."

"I lost my wife because of Wilmington and he has to pay and tell me where Maria is," Mort said, still maintaining a tight grip on JD. "His woman got away, but I have his kid brother and two more brothers. Wilmington, tell me where Maria is or I'll shoot one of them."

"You've already used three shots," JD gasped, trying for bravado and reason. "You don't have a lot left."

"Smart boy," Mort sneered. "I could use the last ones on you and watch Wilmington's face as you die." He laughed as JD futilely struggled, then suddenly aimed and shot Chris in his right thigh.

"Chris!" Vin, Buck and JD screamed as Chris fell and blood ran from his wound.

Outside, as the ambulance and police car sirens were heard, Ezra, Josiah and Nathan looked up from tending the still trembling Inez with alarm as they heard the shot and yells.

"What happened?" Nathan demanded of Josiah, who had managed to get glimpses of the action through a small crack in the curtain.

"He shot Chris in the leg," Josiah said as calmly as he could as Nathan and Ezra's faces whitened in alarm. "He has a gun to JD's head," he warned as Nathan and Ezra stepped towards the door. "We have to wait for the police."

A couple of minutes later Josiah spotted Vin, his face helpless with rage, tying Buck up in one of the chairs as Mort directed and even gagging him.

Chris did not make a sound as he was trying to staunch the wound as best he could.

Buck's eyes darted between the bleeding Chris and the increasingly feebler struggles of his kid brother as Mort's hold tightened around JD's neck.

Mort's attention was drawn to the police sirens and Vin took advantage of the distraction to launch at Mort. Unfortunately, Mort stunned Vin with a blow to the head from the butt of the gun; and then took a burning candle from the booth and tipped it over on the red checkered tablecloth, setting it on fire.

As Vin lay stunned, JD slumped into unconsciousness and the big man easily scooped the boy up. "Time to go, Bucky Boy. Your precious little brother comes with me. I hope Maria was worth it."

And after speaking, he used the smoke distraction to go out the back of Rosie's, leaving Chris bleeding, Vin trying to rally from his blow to the head and Buck in torment.


	3. Chapter 3

Buck's face was contorted with anger and fear as he tried frantically to untie his hands, cursing at Vin for tying them even though Vin tied them as loosely as he could with Mort's eyes glaring at him and the gun pointed at JD's head.

Further aggravating Buck was the makeshift napkin gagging him. Chris was fading as the blood flowed steadily from the bullet wound in his thigh, Buck could see it in Chris' eyes and was terrified at the amount of blood Chris was losing; Vin had been knocked silly by Mort's gun and lay moaning nearby Buck; and topping it all, JD had been choked into unconsciousness and taken away by the unhinged and drunken Mort.

Mort hadn't even stopped there, setting a tablecloth on fire and the smoke was choking Buck, who had to breathe through his nose. Buck silently screamed in frustration, desperate to get to his brothers and find the youngest one, scooped up and carried as easily as a baby by Samuels. Buck's blue eyes located Chris as Chris feebly tried to work his way to Vin and Buck, leaving a blood trail, but Chris passed out before he got far.

The tablecloth had steadily caught fire, and the rising smoke was a further danger to all three men. Josiah! Ezra! Nathan! Buck begged silently, rocking the chair until it tilted and fell, hitting his head but uncaring as he scooted first to Vin, bumping against him the best he could using the chair and his body. Wake up, Tanner! Wake up!

"Hmmmm," Vin said drowsily. "Stop it, Bucklin, or I'll . . . ." He blinked, took in the surroundings, and rolled to his feet, screaming, "Nathan! Ezra! Josiah, help!"

"Oh, God, Chris," he noted, making his way to Chris' side as another sensation hit him – fire and smoke.

After hearing the noises and smelling smoke, Ezra, Josiah and Nathan threw caution to the wind and burst into Rosie's followed by a wide-eyed Inez, "Madre de Dios! Senor Buck! Senor Buck!" Inez grabbed a knife to cut Buck's bonds and tore off his gag; Nathan tied a quick napkin around Chris' thigh wound and Josiah scooped Chris up and hurried outside. Nathan checked Chris' leg as Josiah ran back in to help the others. Ezra helped Vin to his feet and dragged the dazed Tanner outside and then came back to help Josiah, Buck and Inez pour pitchers of water on the fire, trying to put it out.

"Buck, Inez, the fire department is here – let's take our departure," Ezra urged. Firemen rushed past him into the building. Once outside, the coughing brothers and Inez sat down. Buck had taken in the most smoke and between his coughing fits was frantically trying to get the attention of his brothers and the fire department . . .

"Is everyone out of the building?" A young firefighter inquired.

"JD!" Buck screamed, "JD!" and he tried to stumble for the front door before Ezra restrained him gently.

The firefighters spread out and the police moved cautiously through the building while the paramedics were tending to Chris and Vin and keeping an eye on Buck and Inez.

Nathan was conversing with Paramedics Tina Olson and JoJo Turner as they treated and then strapped Chris to the cot, starting an IV and bandaging his wound to stop the bleeding. Chris was barely conscious, moaning a bit as he moved his head.

At the same time, Josiah sat with Vin as paramedic Eric Coleman was trying to assess Vin's condition. A nod to his partner and Vin, trying to battle the restraints, was also lifted into the second ambulance.

"Vin!" Josiah said sharply. "Vin, stop it! You're got a concussion and need treatment!"

Vin's eyes mirrored his helplessness as he looked over at a now unconscious Chris; a crying Inez and distraught Buck. "I'll take care of the others, Vin, you go with Chris – he'll need you," Ezra reassured Vin, patting his hand and after Vin nodded, the two ambulances took off, sirens wailing. Nathan went with the first ambulance holding Chris after conferring briefly with Josiah.

"Josiah, Ezra," Buck said hoarsely. "JD." Sergeant Matt Tobin came out of the building and said, "Buck, you got lucky. The fire's out."

"Matt," Buck implored, he knew the officer who counted Rosie's as one of his favorite hangout. "He took JD."

"Your kid brother?" Tobin exclaimed. The brothers had only gotten together a few months ago, but Tobin, who had yet to meet all of them, had heard the pride in Buck's voice talking about his youngest brother.

Josiah explained, "He was holding a gun to JD's head when he shot Chris. Vin lunged for him and he hit Vin on the head with a gun butt. He started the fire, and then scooped JD up like a baby . . . like a baby . . ." and suddenly the big man's shoulders shook.

"Who?" Tobin demanded.

Inez choked, "Mort Samuels. He was mad because I helped Maria, his wife, leave him. He beat her . . ." and then sobbed, "Poor chiquito. That monster shot Mr. Larabee, hurt Vin and left Buck to die . . . and he took the boy."

Tobin and Officer Todd Greeley both got their notebooks. "Buck, I'm sorry," Tobin started. "Tell us what you know and we'll find the boy, I promise you and this monster won't hurt anyone else."

Buck's dull eyes met the sympathetic ones of his friend. "What if he already has, Matt?"

Josiah and Ezra's eyes mirrored the anguish showing in Buck's as they clasped Buck tightly to comfort him.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

"Hush, baby brother, don't you cry, Bucky Boy may find you bye and bye," came from a very off-key drunken voice as JD slowly and painfully returned to consciousness, turning his head slight to spot a large, shaggy brown-haired man holding a whiskey bottle. "Hey, kid," came from a very slurred voice.

The words were so similar to ones Buck addressed JD with that he faltered out, "Buck?" despite having something loosely wrapped around his mouth.

The man choked and sputtered, swerving as he looked down at the boy in amusement. "I look like Bucky Boy to you?"

JD blinked, trying to think. Not a dream. JD realized he was in a pickup, hands and feet tied and his head partially lying on the big man's lap. A dirty handkerchief, seeming to be a gag, hung loosely around his mouth, though it had not kept him from speaking. JD felt like gagging as he could imagine what was on the dirty rag. But there wasn't the worst . . . he frowned as disturbing images hovered around the edge of consciousness like bees buzzing around flowers.

"Hey, kid - JayDeee," Big Man strung out the name. "Whattsa JD stand for - Juvenile Delinquent?" He laughed loudly at his own humor. "Naw, that'd be ole' Bucky Boy, in and outta trouble, so why is he so holier-than-thou with me? Ole' Buck never met a gal he didn't like - get it kid, girl he didn't like, Will Rogers or was it Mr. Rogers, ha ha!" He stopped laughing as he pulled over abruptly and turned off the engine; JD's body jerking as he had nothing to brace against.

"Hey, kid, you ain't like ole' Bucky Boy - trying to make it with every gal you meet are you?" The suspicion in the man's glance ordinarily would have made JD laugh at someone accusing HIM of being a womanizer, but he still wasn't certain what was happening - just that he was in trouble again (Kid could find trouble in a rubber room, he could almost hear Buck mutter).

"Naw, you're just a pup," the whiskered man went on, "a kinda innocent-lookin' one, how'd you end up with Bucky Boy for a brother?" The man cocked his head as if he expected JD to answer, then grinned, "Oh, hey, you can't talk with my ole' hanky in your mouth? Couldn't have you come to and holler with the cops around." He reached out and removed the gag as JD sputtered and coughed.

"Mister," he said faintly. "What is going on? Why are I tied up?"

"So you can't run away," the man drawled, laughing again at his drunken humor. "Good thing you're small, easier to tote around than the rest of them brothers of yours - not that they could follow you NOW."

JD's memory was starting to return and sudden flashes like lightning had him struggling with his bonds. "Buck, Inez! You were going to shoot them! Vin, Chris! You shot Chris! CHRIS!" he wailed, remembering the shock of watching Chris fall and seeing the blood on his jeans.

"Course I did, have to slow 'em down, Kid. Had to get outta there before the PO-lice came. You made a right good shield, there, boy, if they had spotted me couldn't shoot while I had you. I guess they were too busy with big brother bleeding, middle brother tied up, younger brother knocked out - stupid punk, thinking he could charge me and oh, of course, the fire that I set! I showed 'em, son, showed how not to underestimate ole' Mort!" He took another swig.

"No!" JD exclaimed in horror. Were his brothers all right? What was the man saying? He set a fire? Did they . . . he couldn't even let the thought cross his mind. Chris shot. Vin hurt, Buck tied up . . . he began to struggle in earnest and jarred the man's bottle, spilling whiskey and the man cursed and swatted him in the head.

"Keep still, you little brat! Keep still!"

JD, tears in his eyes, tried to stop struggling, but the fear of what had happened to his family caused his body to quiver with scared defiance. "You won't get away with it! My brothers will find me if it's the last thing they do! You can't hurt a Larabee and get away with it!"

"Well, how 'bout a Wilmington, Clint Eastwood wannabe, and you?" He laughed, infuriating the boy.

JD shut his eyes for a moment, trying not to think what had happened to his family after he passed out. Then he opened his hazel eyes, determined to get away from the man and check on his family . . . Buck, Chris, Vin . . . .

The man stared at him, bleary-eyed as if deciding what to do. "You're easier to handle when quiet, boy. Now, what do I . . . oh, yeah!" and he fumbled around in his shirt pocket. "Could give you some knock-out drops, boy, get it, knock-out drops but got them little pills Maria takes to sleep, one or two should put you right out, boy."

"Mister," JD began. He looked around wildly, noting the trees and mountains and a cabin? Where was he? He didn't want to take any pills, he wanted to get away as soon as he could and check on his brothers . . .

"Shush, boy! Two outta do it. Gotta have a drink with it, where's the water, oh, I know, here's a drink, boy - hey, you're too young to drink, right? Can't be 18 or is it 21? You look about sixteen to me, just a puppy. Whatever, here, boy here's a good stiff one to wash 'em down, Bucky Boy ever let you have a taste of his finest whiskey? Maybe he'll be mad at ole' Mort getting you drunk, hey Kid?" and Mort jerked JD's head up, stuffed the two pills in his mouth and forced the whiskey in his mouth and held JD's nose until he had to swallow. JD was sputtering but the pills went down despite his efforts; he was helpless with his hands and feet tied. He tried to fight the drowsiness, but felt himself slowly floating away.

"That's more like it," the man, whose name JD knew remembered was Mort, said as if a far distance away. JD heard a grunt as he was hoisted out of the truck and carried a short distance and the last thing he remembered was the opening and shutting of a door and Mort saying, with satisfaction, "We're home, boy, and no one can find us - 'specially not Bucky Boy."


End file.
